Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Development Water Right? Silverton and San Juan County intend to file for a water right to protect future development, according to the Durango Herald. From the article, "In response to Durango's possible water-rights application to protect recreation, San Juan County and the town of Silverton will file their own claims by the end of December to protect development. The county and town would file through the Southwestern Water Conservation District. In a telephone conference Monday, district board members authorized their legal and engineering experts to help with the applications. The application for the town would be filed in its name. The county application would be held by the conservation district. 'We're going to file for a water right to protect our potential for development,' Willie Tookey, administrator for San Juan County, said Monday. 'It would be a minimal amount, but we're concerned because we're upstream from Durango.' Until now, the county and town have had few water worries, taking water from creeks in the Animas River drainage. But recent controversy statewide about water rights specifically for recreation has them concerned. Old-time water consumers fear that a Recreational In-Channel Diversion would interfere with traditional uses such as irrigation or providing water for homes and businesses. On the other hand, the recreation industry points to its growing importance as an economic generator. A water right puts the holder in line ahead of others who want water later. San Juan County is taking no chances, although it's not filing for recreational water, Tookey said." Category: Colorado Water 7:10:43 AM     Fryingpan-Arkansas water for Aurora The Pueblo Chieftain editorial staff is arguing that Aurora cannot move more water out of the Arkansas River if the water is from the Fryingpan-Arkansas project. They write, "The president of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District believes, as we do, that the Bureau of Reclamation has no legal authority to enter into a long-term Lake Pueblo storage contract with Aurora. John Singletary plans to urge his board today to request congressional intervention into the storage question. We urge the board to do so. This goes to the very heart of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project. It was authorized by Congress to bring water from the Western Slope specifically to benefit the Arkansas River drainage basin. Period. Fry-Ark was not built to benefit Aurora or any other community outside this basin." This is an interesting argument. Water from the Colorado River basin that is moved to another basin (Arkansas) cannot then be moved to a third basin (South Platte). The water can however be used to extinction under Colorado law. Coyote Gulch thinks that Pueblo's argument might not hold water. Category: Colorado Water 7:04:19 AM     Colorado River Water Users Association Annual Meeting Here's a report on this year's meeting of the Colorado River Water Users Association from the Salt Lake Tribune. From the article, "Water officials from the seven Colorado River Basin states begin their annual meetings in Las Vegas today amid some signs of progress. They are inching forward in what has been a year-long round of negotiations to establish new operating procedures on the river, particularly about managing Lake Powell and Lake Mead during periods of water shortage. But whether they make enough progress to present a formal proposal to Interior Secretary Gale Norton by next spring's federally imposed deadline is another question. Norton is scheduled to address the Colorado River Water Users Association conference on Friday." Category: Colorado Water 6:48:18 AM     Tamarisk and Water Consumption Groups are organizing to eradicate Tamarisk, according to the Rocky Mountain News [December 14, 2005, "Tamarisk targeted to save water"]. From the article, "Water managers in the seven states that rely on the Colorado River, looking for ways to conserve water in a supply already stressed by growth and drought, believe they can create more reliable drought buffers by targeting the biggest water wasters. Eradicating invasive plant species was among the less-traditional ideas mentioned in drought response proposals submitted by the states to Interior Secretary Gale Norton earlier this year. At the top of the species list is the tamarisk, a nonnative tree that, by some estimates, robs the Colorado River of as much as 500,000 acre-feet a year, or nearly twice Nevada's annual river allocation...Colorado State University is working with a private group, the Tamarisk Coalition, on plans to remove tamarisk and begin restoring riparian areas. The group and university scientists are looking at the use of herbicides and mechanical removal." Meanwhile the Dolores Tamarisk Action Group (D-TAG) and the Dolores Soil Conservation District are hosting a tamarisk eradication demonstration this week, according to the Cortez Journal. More Coyote Gulch coverage of the Tamarisk problem here. Category: Colorado Water 6:18:35 AM

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